Improving Gross Profit Part 3

1. Think in terms of improving gross in small increments. Try paying the managers a bonus for achieving nominal increases each month. Start by improving gross by $50 a unit. Do that over the next year and you will see a slow and effective way to increase your gross. You can only eat the elephant one bite at a time.

2. How could I talk about your grosses without mentioning “Life Cycle Management?” Life Cycle Management is designed to help you create a sense of urgency on those cars that are most likely to kill your grosses. The faster they go away the better your gross will become. My UpYourGross software tool puts you on the path to better grosses and more efficiency.

3. Track GAP and ROI. When you do, grosses go up. How much are you giving up once the customer shows up at your store with a price from the Internet? If you don’t know then you can’t fix it. (GAP-Give-Away-Profit)

4. Improve your look to book. You make the most money on units you trade. You will trade for more if you get serious about improving look to book. Review every appraisal from the previous day in your “save-a-deal” meeting every morning. Someone in management should be responsible for calling every customer that had a trade and up the ante.

5. Shoot the moon on the right stuff. Since the beginning of the car business, higher grosses are driven by some home run cars. You have to understand which ones are home runs, singles, doubles, and triples.

6. Try some old-school. If you’re not a true one-price dealer serve up an under-allowance on every trade. It should be part of your discipline each time you appraise a unit.

7. If you’re still struggling with gross maybe it’s time to let me train your entire management team? My message is powerful and long-lasting.

Fix what you can fix. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs